Really? I thought that Matt was much better than Matt!

@@Messihippi you say that which is fair and all but I feel as if Matt was a bit rather more astute than Matt.

There can be only one...

Please try to stick to the Matter in hand

Oh horseapples! Matt was much more interesting than Matt. I refer of course to the white guy talking about armor. Not the other one.

😎

Yes. It's kinda like football pads. When you put those pads and helmet on it makes you feel like a tank and all of a sudden you are sprinting all-out and slamming your body into people as hard as you can without a care. You don't worry about breaking your nose or a collarbone, as you are protected. Take a look at rugby tackling vs the NFL, especially the NFL from a few years ago. Rugby guys are just as tough as football players, but they simply CAN'T launch themselves with the level of violence you see in the NFL because they would injure or kill themselves. My point is that armoring up absolutely does make one feel nigh-invincible when participating in violent activities. I know this because I experienced it, albeit in a far less lethal endeavor. It would be shocking to me if there wasn't a huge confidence/morale boost in being well-armored on a medieval battlefield. Being (relatively) safe from random arrows and cutting/stabbing implements is so huge. It would allow you to look at what would otherwise be deadly threats as nothing more than weeds to be cut down. A young man, with his natural young-man bravado, raised in a culture that celebrated being valiant much to a much greater degree than today, with his peers around him and his leaders encouraging him is already a potent recipe for countering fear. Now encase him in steel and he will feel unstoppable and will fight with pure aggression and maximum violence.

@@stonecoldscubasteveo4827 Give him some proof, let him have a spear or arrow nick him thru the mail and you have no fear that you can come to real harm.

you are right sir. At the same time there is the trap of feeling TOO safe and taking too many risks and making stupid mistakes the armor can help with forgiveness. A warrior must never forget, even with armor he is still human, he isnt invincible

@@gdlop Agincourt is probably a good example of this!

@@gdlop That comes down to good training.

Certainly possible. More often than not visors are removable. There's various practical reasons for this. One of which is the option to change visors yes.

YES! One would think that a simple nose piece as in an ancient Greek helmet would offer a great deal of protection vs the amount of metal in front of one's face. I assume that knights went down not because someone dealt them a killing blow, but because they were swarmed and carried off for ransom. That fate becomes exponentially more likely as a knight tires, so in terms of statistical likelihood of the knight becoming a casualty, a smaller face shield is a net gain. Of course, if it's you, you might have a preference for "not getting stabbed in the face by a lucky pig farmer with a pointy stick" over statistics.

I don’t know of any examples in this period of history, but certainly later on armor had ‘pieces of exchange’ for different combat. The pointed nose (called a pig nose) was to deflect arrows, spears and lances.

Totally agree Robbie. Why I do this process for all my LH stuff. Sorry didn't give you a shout out this time. I love supporting those who have done great work for me. Its a massive video and mentioning everyone runs the risk of descending into infomercial. I think there's scope in a hypothetical future video to talk about this aspect of the process and showcase.

@@Sorrowshard Ah no worries at all! Yeah, mentioning all the craftsmen who have created your kit would be a long list of shoutouts :) Fantastic video though. I really hope you do another video with Matt in the near future!

@@robbiemcsweeney1318 I think that's the vague intention. We certainly have more to come from this first recording session 😉

I'm getting started with my collection soon too, and yeah any resources for that would be appreciated. Especially seeing how the usual armor sources are more limited now since most were in Ukraine.

Thanks for the kind words. To be honest this was far from comprehensive or structured , just an open discussion / toe dip. I regret that I did not mention Shoes and hoes are equally important. ALL the undergarments have to be sorted before you can get measured and they all need to be fit for purpose /specific. I'm sure if we had intended t o approch this in a more structured/formal series then it would have been laid out differently, certainly there is scope to build on this / branch out.

Ukraine and Russia have a lot of great armours that have sadly parted contact. the likes of kzfaq.info are good.

Rifle-proof body armour. Ain't no such thing for people. Oh there's armour that will stop rifle rounds at longer distances but at shorter distances where more muzzle velocity is retained? Forget about it.

@@davidpnewton Never heard of level IV body armor, I take it?

@@markfergerson2145 that's an interesting discussion isn't it. Level III body armour will stop 7.62 NATO rounds with a velocity of 2,780 ft/s. Up to six rounds thereof. Level IV body armour will stop one round and one round only. So level III armour will deal with service rifle hits to a large degree, but it won't deal with many sniper rifles. There's also the trade-off that always comes with armour: weight and mobility. However each and every hit will degrade the armour and concentrated fire will defeat it. So I was indeed wrong to a degree.

@@davidpnewton Strictly speaking the "one round" spec is an absolute minimum. There's armor on the market that will stop more. Don't feel bad about not knowing about level IV. Just as in medieval times, arms and armor evolve. They do so rather faster these days so it's harder to keep up. I only know what I know because I'm trying to be a writer and do a lot of research into the topic. There's still more I don't know that what I do know of course. There's also still a difference between hard and soft armor just as in medieval days, plus there's now more than one kind of hard armor. Lightweight soft armor like kevlar can stop some threats heavier hard armor can't *if* it's way thicker, and ceramic armor of a given thickness can often stop threats hardened steel armor the same thickness can't, but only once. There's also the fact that soft armor may catch the bullet but only after creating a wound full of kevlar fibers and the caught bullet for a surgeon to remove. Modern armor tech is at least as filled with nuances and compromises as medieval armor was. Weight, cost, availability, protection level, ease of use and in many cases concealability were and still are major considerations to be weighed against each other. I have blathered too much, but I could go on all day. ;)

Funnily enough, 14th-15th century armour suits women's bodies very well, as a key element is to create the 'wasp waist' look. This is more of a problem for large-bodied men, than for most women - the effect of a good arming doublet is similar to a corset.

It's a good point . We already got upto an hour with this, its such a dense topic it could only really be covered by multiple videos and I'm certain were/if we to get into more in the series this would certainly come up.

This comment seems to bear no relevance to this particular video? I know Tim quite well. He's also good at Early medieval helmets too (which is vaguely relevant to the video)

Do stay close to the historical shapes and design of the plates. Those shapes are the ergonomic ones, so you don't have to fight your armor as well as your opponent. I've tried it the other way. It didn't work.

Our pleasure!

Hi chap, quite a bit of stuff about Great bascinets , Including another (truly excellent) reproduction and Dr. Capwells observations from wearing one in his 1st book we mentioned in the video, and I would encourage everyone to start there.

@@mattlewis4553 Thank you, Matt! I own Toby's books and if I ever get an armor, it'll be because of him and the style will *have* to be English, ha! Here's hoping the part 3 pre-orders build up enough to have it printed soon! Ps: maybe you'll collaborate with Mr. Easton again when your harness is finished to the standard of your superb taste 👌

@@45calibermedic Good taste is as much a blessing as a curse... My harness was 'finished' some time ago. I was never happy with it as a whole and to be completely honest the experience really ruined everyhting for me. Long story... Sadly I have had to step away and focus on other projects / periods with time/money being finite. You'll be pleased to hear ufrther calloboration with Matt is planned. Perhaps you have seen the recently published sword & scabbard video we did together ?

@@mattlewis4553 I did and I must say your scabbard are exquisite. Very inspirational for me as I plan to make a scabbard for my Albion Huskarl eventually. First one in plain wood to practice making a core and for simple storage and transport, then a good one leather-bound with nice fittings. I'm sorry about the armor, though. Your helmet is absolutely beautiful. The English style of great basicnet with less rounded skull avoids the lollipop shape that some have. I also find that on your arming sword, the bold blade/cross and geometric detail of the pommel in contrasting color delightful. I'll look forward to more!

@@45calibermedic I sold a Huskarl , but I'm sorta a third of the way into a scabbard for a heavily upgraded Baleur type H Viking sword myself. My great Bascinet is for sale as it happens.

Hats off to ! you just for fun made a butted long sleeve shirt and it took me a couple of years thanks to an intermission in armpit hell

When I learned how, buying rings commercially was not an option, so butted maille made from galvanized fencing wire was the standard. A couple friends in high school working together could turn out a vest of butted in 2 weeks over the summer vacation. Working around school/work and committing all my remaining free time to it, my butted full hauberk took about a year. At a guess, making the rings was about 1/3 - 1/2 of that time. I haven’t done any work with riveted, but maybe some day…

Have a look at the Beauchamp Pageant manuscript - there are a few examples there.

Makes me kinda sad.

@@Adam_okaay Me too. That was excellent content.

@@PieterBreda ironically he posts a lot on his personal fb

That's the logo for UnderArmor.

My expensive hobby's started with Motorbikes. I hear what you are saying. I do find it much easier to get bike kit. there are any number of suppliers and brands, returns are easy and once you know your sizes and 'brands' it gets much easier. When everyhting is hand made, hard to get in short order and subject to the foibles of natural materials /crafts its an order of magnitude more challenging. I do think it's less of a 'culture shock' tfor a motorcyclist and you are certainly more accustomed to discomfort ....

The point being that most workshops 'were' a group of specialists overseen by a master armourer. Otherwise I tend to think you are perhaps buying xyz smiths gauntlets because you like the gauntlets he makes, abc's helmet that you saw and liked and so on. It is also going to be driven by regional style, and as it is now for a customer . If you have a clear idea of what you want you could get it made or would probaly know someone that makes something similar.

If he's alien enough to need a space suit, something sharp. Or a rifle.

I would think that that's likely! Given that the client is well travelled and particularly picky :p

From a historical context 'hardened' is kinda a can of worms really. 'hardened' in this case just means there has been some form of steel with sufficient carbon content used, its been hardened and heat treatment has at least been attempted. Obviously on the repro we used modern steel and a typical 'springy' heat treat. I just meant that the 'soft' ventail is replaced with rigid defence in this case. ideally hardened/treated maybe not ...

The majority of armour in c.1415 was probably iron, or the equivalent of mild steel. However, since the 1300s some of the best armour was hardened steel (carbon steel by modern standards, as you cannot quench harden mild steel). So these neck plates could be anything from iron/mild steel, to unhardened carbon steel, to hardened carbon steel in c.1415. This is covered in my recent video about armour testing with Augusto.

Kind of - some of the early armet visors are described as sparrow beak visors. Essentially yes they come from bascinet visors, but are smaller because the area they cover is smaller than a typical bascinet, because the cheek pieces cover the jawline already.

I can recommend AD1410

@@mattlewis4553 Cool. That's actually who I as looking at. Thanks!

This is alot to unpack, its probably a subject for a whole conversation. There are many variables to consider and it's a context thing too, we don't grow up wearing armour we rarely wear it all day, few people train 'Hard' in/for it. So any answers are personal/subjective at best.

@@Sorrowshard Yes, I do indeed realize all of that. It would be a huge topic to cover generally let alone adequately or exhaustively. I am only looking for some general, on-average, rough answers on the subject, that I might use as a rule of thumb. I would also certainly never quote anything that someone said on the subject or hold them to it. All that goes beyond my purview, as I am not involved in social media, beyond watching Matt, Tod and a few others, who cover such topics. My central focus would be for generating a somewhat realistic "look and feel" within the context of my own pen & paper RPGs, which are not for commercial use. I am far too old to go out and run around in those suits, whacking and being whacked by my friends with all sorts of medieval weapons in order to build the data points that I need. I just would like to get a general idea.

@@manfredconnor3194 To even answer your first few questions in a broad/general terms involves a fair bit of writing/context Especially if you are thinking in terms of RPG mechanics. This is more of a forum board open topic/discussion IMO

@@Sorrowshard Well, that is like your opinion man. Maybe I will get lucky and someone else will be more forthcoming.

The most important is missing. Don't get killed in mail.

Don't have sex in armor? Wheres the fun in that!?

Functional and fantasy are too often diametrically opposed. But which fantasy do you have in mind? For instance, stay away from the playing-card hauberks from _Braveheart._ (You can't move well enough in them.)

Dave is one of the best armourers working in the UK, old school. (There is a conversation to be had about the general state of armourers in the UK but I'm not going to get into that here) For full contact stuff , some of the Buhurt places are a good cost effective bomb proof choice IMO. It does depend on some other factors, like how quickly you want it , how long you might be willing to wait and so on.

*and budget

Thanks for the response. Willing to wait and willing to save more for long lasting high quality

Which helmet, would you think?

They describe the type in the KZfaq, without mentioning brand names. Well suited for SCA/Bohurt/rattan baton playing, and very durable.

Japanese mail was generally used as sleeves upon the arms, with considerable decoratively treated small solid pieces approximately like scales, but always spread over the extent of the sleeves. They seemed to think of their mail more as a structure to hold these 'rafts' as they called them. They were quite intrigued by Western mail-shirts and their 4-1 weave. They dubbed it 'southern barbarian chain.'

@@w.reidripley1968 Thanks for the info.

It depends on the context of your question ... Here we are talking about buying a complete armour but different parts from differnt makers. You could at least hypothetically kick it all off at the same time (dependant on waiting lists) if you are talking about buying a piece at a time for budgetary constraints there isn't exactly a strict order , but some parts work together and have to be made at the same time to some degree, depending on the style/period of the armour.

In the UK ? It's kinda difficult as discussed. You could see if The Medieval Rats are taking orders. Or If you can't find anyone, AD1410 in Poland does some of the best Doublets going and gets a good result without having to be present. Youll just need to be really careful /get some help with the measuring...

The shoulders should have some ease to them; the waist rather more snug to hold your leg harness up. More comfortable than hanging that much weight from a belt. ETA: Unless that belt is wide enough to mostly cover your abdomen when donned. This is close to a skeletonizing of an armyng-doublet, and suits bohurt type games. All the more so if you fit shoulder straps to it, medieval Sam Browne-ish. This is if your kit doesn't have voiders. But if ventilation's more important...

Nearest thing is a 'standing collar' and it seems this type of locked in place construction was preferred and sticks around the longest.

@@Sorrowshard I appreciate the comment. Also, love your screen name.

@@solonaravanroth8759 Thanks. As Matt says , we're on some kinda spectrum and I gave my insta/screen name a deal of careful consideration.

Shame, mine is for sale right now ;) 15th c is a big place, armour changes significantly... Plenty of depictions of symmetrical breaths. I'd refer you to T. Capwells books for detailed refs. For me, depicting a knight who would have fought on foot at Agincourt (It was the English specialty) , the extra visibility and oxygen is a fairly compelling proposition , especially with no head mobility. ...

@@mattlewis4553 wish I could scoop up both but it’s not in the cards for me. This bascinet is going to cost nearly $6,000; I have an extremely discerning taste when it comes to armour. Thank you for the help though

@@mattlewis4553 The armet is for sale? I'm interested to know more!

@@Blasphemous1980 Not the Armet sorry. It's the Great Bascinet available.

Not really no, the weight should be well distributed (and probably not as heavy as you might think...) so it's more of a tone & cardio /endurance improvement you would expect.

The real risk is porking up rarlther than beefing up... modern times.

Its arguably worse if you don't pay 'Head guy' on time...

@@Sorrowshard arguably the best fellow to have beside you in a scrap if you find yourself fighting alongside the armourers guild.

I thought the head turns in the camailed pig face basc looked remarkably Muppet-like. Kermit, specifically.

Its for sale actually ...

Can you give me an idea of the price ?

@@michaelwhite8031 It owes me about £1500/$1700 In the current buying environment It's up for grabs for around £1200 /$1400

I am sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I have been trying hard to scrape the money together. I could only raise £700 so l will have to get back to you in the future to see if you still have it. Sorry.

@@michaelwhite8031 Its not exactly flying off the shelf atm chap everyone either has no money or the wrong size /shape head or vice versa. Feel free to drop me a line IF/when you have the cash It may well still be around as I'm not really pushing it.

Silliness, isn't it wonderful?

Depends where you are chap, might be surprised to find who is making what where. The majority of Europeans don't necessarily order from Europe, most of good/functional entry level stuff originates from Poland/Ukraine and in the 'beforetimes' ... Russia. Nomatter where you live there is a sort of minimum amount of money youll need to spend to have something functional yes.

@@mattlewis4553 I'm in the US and I think there's a reason many of the kits in my HEMA club seem to be late 14th/early 15th century armors, most of which are not particularly historical. It's a similar story to what you often see in buhurt/SCA circles too. Also, after asking the more experienced members they also mostly bought outside the US. Getting the fitted full plate stuff becomes even more difficult when there's an ocean between you and most of the good smiths and your own country has a higher standard of living than most places the competition comes from.

@@perrytran9504 Most of the kits everywhere probably broadly fit this description. Really genuinely accurate quality stuff is rare. Full stop. There are at least a couple top 'master' smiths in the US and a handful scattered around the globe. If you want something slavishly accurate from a top smith, it is a LOT of money and a long wait and faff no matter where you live.

@@mattlewis4553 Yeah not to mention the level of fitting means you better stay at about the same fitness as you save up for the pieces. So by the time you can start having more money to throw at it you are also at greater risk of getting a dad bod lol. This has definitely influenced some of the instructors' choice of collection compared to their earlier kits.